Storyline: Orphaned at the age of seven, I was naïve to think my uncle took me in out of love. He promised to return the House of Edenbarre to me once I was of age, but instead he kept my father’s title and wealth. Not to mention my "sweet cousin" poisoned me after I learned of my uncle’s plans against the emperor.
But with a second chance at life, I vow to take it all from them, as they did to me! Some may call me a villainess, but I’ll gladly use the tyrant emperor for my selfish interests.
I’ll have my vengeance... as long as no one gets in my way!
Did this go off the rails? Yes. Were the vibes impeccable? Also yes. MCs kept making out and eye-fucking all the time, which is more than I can say for most comics in this subgenre. Definitely one of the better ones I've read. Helps that it didn't meander and had a shorter episode count. Read via Tapas (70 episodes).
i loved the romance and the characters were okay. the pacing was pretty rushed in some areas which made the overall flow a little bit stunted at some points in the manga but i wasn't too concern about it. the art style is amazing. the tyrant and the villainess looked good together and the sexual tension can cut.
ماریبل بخاطر اعتمادی که به عمو و دختر عموش داشت ازش سو استفاده شد و همه چیشو از دست داد و در اخر توسط دختر عموش مسموم شد... اما اون به یک سال قبل برگشته و این بار میخواد انتقام بگیره اونم به کمک امپراطور ستمگر... یبار از یکی شندیم هیچ وقت به هیچکس اعتماد نکن هیچ وقت. و درست میگفت من از آدم یا دوستای نزدیکم بدترین ضربه ها رو خوردم و دیگه به هیچکس نمیتونم اعتماد کنم دست خودمم نیست. شخصیت پردازیش دوست دارم ولی خوب میدونید من خیلی رو گرافیک حساسم گرافیک بدک نبودش امتیاز چون پایین دادم به خاطر اینکه یخورده بعضی چیترا کش داده بود و تکراری بودش... قشنگ بودش:)
I've always had a problem grasping how character ideation could be distinct from character development and how the plot synopsis can be different from plot development. This manhwa really made me see that indeed, these are separate things, and if the writer does one well, it doesn't automatically transition into doing a good job of the other part as well.
This story had really great character ideation and was doing well with character development until around chapters 45-46, where everything took a turn for the worse. It basically felt like they've suddenly told the illustrator/writer to wrap up the story within the next 20-30 chapters, and that's what they exactly did. To be honest, I was surprised to see that the story was completed by 70 chapters because when I was reading the first half, it felt like it had the potential to go on for at least about 110-120 chapters. Maribelle was a strong-headed character and the chemistry between her and the emperor was great. Considering that one was supposed to be a villainess and the other was supposed to be a tyrant, their romantic moments indeed had that thriller feeling you would expect from the love between two crazy and dangerous people. I was really enjoying the story up to chapter 15 and from there to chapter 45, it was doing pretty okay. But the change from that point onward was so obvious that it felt like they had changed the author or something because suddenly all that chilly chemistry and that dangerous banter was gone and only the plot was moving forward without any character development. And there was no plot development either. It felt like we were only getting a rundown of the events (a synopsis) so the story could just reach its ending and wrap up. This meant that a lot of plot points were explained properly (). Similarly, because characters weren't developed properly, a lot of things didn't really connect well ( And furthermost, what irritated me was the lack of political world-making. One of the things that make me enjoy isekai/time-travel manhwas, despite their cliche plot synopsis, is the political struggles that characters have in order to secure the throne. The negotiations, the competition, the unexpected betrayals and even sometimes hints at the importance of popularity among peasants as a way to secure power (and further, as a noblesse oblige). Although Etherald and Baldwin were competing for the throne, there was barely any of that political drama involved which made things pretty boring and bland. So why the 3 stars? Well, the first 15 chapters deserved 5, the next 30 chapters were around 4, and the final 30 chapters were 1 star, so I figured 2 would be appropriate. And the third star is because of one beautiful sentence that was in the letter half which made me feel like I didn't absolutely waste my time on it: "Love is... being able to overlook getting betrayed once." Of course, we are not talking about justifying cheating with someone here; the point for me is that love is being to forgive the person you love for their mistakes. And it made sense to me. Maybe all those times that we are betrayed, and we suffer, we don't necessarily suffer because of the mistake, but we suffer because they never ask for forgiveness even though deep down, we really just want to hear that to be able to move on.
As for the art, the artist did a good job of facial illustrations, but the dress designs were pretty bland. The coloring was pastel, which I really enjoyed (because most manhwa colorings are vibrant). However, the artist drew some of the panels in a warm light, and those were the highlights of her work. It was at these panels that I realized that although pastel coloring was nice, having pastel colors with a cold light kind of dampened the beauty of it. I really wish the artist would've drawn the whole thing in warm light instead of cold light, it would've been aesthetically impressive (see below for the comparison. Also, excuse my lack of artistic knowledge for what the right terms for this difference in lighting would be. Cold light and warm light is the best I can describe it) ["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>
1. Betrayed protagonist gets send back in time to her body a year earlier, and proceeds to go on a revenge quest.
2. This book gets three starts because it's family drama and the protagonist is a woman who's something of a badass asshole bent on vengeance. The family drama bits are also surprisingly effective? The relationship between the cousins is complicated (at least on the protagonist's side) and very high-drama. I like that in a story.
3. The way the male lead immediately becomes besotted with the protagonist is fun to watch, but I don't entirely know how it happened. He's still an interesting character who makes sense, but I feel like a few of the puzzle pieces are missing? Idk.
4. Or maybe it's just the translation. The scans for the last few pages were... kinda confusing and it was hard to follow what was happening. I think that affected my enjoyment of the story a lot, because I would otherwise be VERY on board for a family-centric revenge narrative.
Unsure if I'm gonna continue--tempted by the pretty art and the much darker tone compared to the other serials I'm binging, but it keeps hitting on some pet peeves (most notably the "yeah, well, I'll just kill you!!!!!!" to every perceived slight. What is your exit strategy. There are ways to make scary, schemy characters without making them whip out a knife every time someone mildly inconveniences them).
I def want more coherency as to everyone's motivations and schemes. I want to give it a chance with more episodes because I suspect it's a translation issue as to why I struggle so much to understand it. I really want to GET Maribelle--she's bonkers and ruthless and takes no shit, and I LOVE a romance between two equally villainous and untrustworthy people, but I'm waiting for some better scenarios with actual stakes where she can show off her skills.
This was absolutely amazing, I loved it! It was on the darker side, but fast-paced and beautifully drawn. The art of the costumes and the settings were stunning. Also, the cast of characters was large enough to provide interest, but also small enough to maintain engagement with all of them. They were appealing and understandable (though not necessarily all likeable), and I was rooting for quite a few on different sides of the Conflict at times. The darkness of the overall story was balanced out by the occasional funny line or character, which made it a great read!
This was an enjoyable story, with interesting characters and the all-important 'demure woman cracks out her inner bitch/boss'. It's always satisfying to see a woman use and enjoy her power, and have an equally powerful man doting on her. There were a few plotting/pacing issues, and a couple of characterisations that were a bit confusing at times, but overall really fun. Probably could have been fleshed out more, but I'm also not sure that the content would have supported it. (It should be noted that I read a translation on Tapas.)
لطيفة، خفيفة، وقصيرة وخلصانة - 70 شابتر بس. الشخصيات مكتوبة حلو مش cheesy وأوفر. ال villainess عليها علامات شخصية ال villainess فعلاً ومعندهاش مانع تاخد خطوات مش قد كده عشان تنتقم. ال tyrant ييجي منه كـ tyrant فعلاً بردو :"D الشخصيات الثانوية هما إللي كان محطوط فيهم حبة كرييتيفيتي زيادة عن العادي الحقيقة كمان وده يديها bonus points. بس النهاية اتكروتت في كام شابتر كالعادة للأسف.
Read the first 40 chapters, and honestly, to me, it felt dragging and wasn't any significant progress in the story itself. The flashbacks of the past lives were confusing, and character motivations are unclear. I don't think I will pick this series up when new chapters become available.
DNF: I agree that the motivations of the characters are very unclear as another person said. That makes the story somewhat confusing at times. The concept is nice and I might pick it back up one day but 2/5 stars imo. I’ll be abandoning it as of now.
Intinya mah dua-duanya saling cinta tapi terlalu banyak penghalang. Sampai hidup dua kali pun endingnya nyaris saja jadi romeo juliet. Banyak orang pintar yang jadi bego gara-gara cinta tidak berbalas, begitu kira-kira kesan yang saya tangkap. Poor Ashil dan Xavier.
This manwha has a very strong start despite being such a cookie cutter premise only for the writer/illustrator to rush the ending. Makes me wonder if this manwha was not greenlit for a third season and so the last 10 episodes feel like a rush.
This first half was great, Maribelle’s strong personality is so refreshing. The chemistry between her and the king is off the charts. I love how Ethelred doesn’t give two shits and does and says anything he wants, I laugh every time - love him. The art is so beautiful too 😍
Se siente como una novela brasilera al comienzo (de buena manera) pero el final hizo que caiga la historia y muy sacado de la manga la solución que le dieron
“HE'S A FEARLESS MAN WHO KILLED NUMEROUS PEOPLE. HE HAS NOTHING TO FEAR AS HE IS SEATED AT THE HIGHEST POSITION IN THE EMPIRE . YET…….THIS MAN CRUMBLES IN THE FACE OF LOVE” . I love them so much 🫶🏻🫶🏻
half of the time I didn't even know where this was going and I couldn't remember the story after I finished it but it was good while i was reading it, if that makes any sense
I thought this would be way better. The story reminds me of It's no Use hanging on but I didn't really like that one either. And the villainess kinda reminds me of Charlize from I Tamed A Tyrant and Ran away but Charlize is one of my favorite mcs, so you see the dilemma... I'll give it a couple more chapters, tho.